Oliver and Kara get some much needed advice, William learns, Mon-El and Imra have clear opinions, and promises are made.

Enjoy the final part of "We Fall!"

***

"You're looking much less armored up."

Slade raised an eyebrow, not looking up from the gun he was examining. "The city's under siege, and my mask is the one that led a siege a few years ago," he explained simply. "Might be a good idea to sit this siege out."

"Touché," Malcolm nodded thoughtfully, leaning against the rail by him and checking over his own gear. "And then the year after that . . . "

Slade smirked. "I'm also not exactly subtle in my work, wizard."

"Magician," Malcolm rolled his eyes, making Slade chuckle. "Well, I guess as long as I keep out of sight."

"You're good at that."

"Thanks. I think."

"You're w – "

Malcolm looked up from his bow, tilting his head when he saw Slade frown. "What?" he lowered his voice.

Slade's frown turned into a scowl, and he ever so slightly pointed behind them. Malcolm causally leaned against the railing, tilting his head to hear better, and picked up what was being discussed between Dig and Felicity. " – putting the hood back on?" Felicity was saying.

"Yeah," Dig admitted.

"I'm sure you will," Felicity assured him, making Slade and Malcolm exchange wary glances. "You know, once this whole Cayden thing is dealt with."

"I hope so," Dig sighed.

Malcolm turned back to Slade, seeing his scowl deepen. "I think we both agree on who we prefer to be wearing the hood," the assassin remarked as casually as he could.

"Damn right," Slade growled lowly, turning to look over at where William was sitting at the table. "But we need to keep William in mind, too."

"We will," Malcolm nodded, turning to Slade. "If there's one thing in common we have with Oliver, it's that we're both fathers. We'll get Oliver back to his son."

Slade nodded in agreement, clasping the hand Malcolm extended to him. "That we will."

"Hey, boys," Laurel called from the platform, making them look up. "You'll want to see this."

"Will," Lena called, pushing away from her computer. "Your dad's on TV."

William hurried up to stand with Alex as James reached over, turning up the sound on the screen. 

***

"A hacker, goes by the name Cayden James, has taken over the electronic infrastructure of Star City," Oliver began, looking out over the crowd of reporters in front of him. "In his hands, anything, anything that is connected to the Internet, can be used as a weapon. Now, sadly, this has already led to a number of casualties, including our police captain, Frank Pike, and Councilman Harold Grovner. But Mr. James has made his demands, but make no mistake – he is a terrorist, and Star City does not negotiate with terrorists, period. Instead, we are gonna focus on the safety and well-being of our citizens. In that spirit, the SCPD has set up safe houses throughout the city. These locations are entirely analog, and you will be safe there. I promise you, you will be safe there." He straightened to his full height and looked directly into the lens of the nearest camera. "Mr. James, Star City has survived far worse than you. We will band together, we will be united, and we will survive this." He turned back to the press and nodded politely. "Thank you very much."

He ignored questions being asked of him and turned to jog up the stairs to where Thea and Kara were waiting. Kara gave him a small smile and a thumbs up, which Oliver smiled back at.

***

As the footage shut off, Cayden snorted in amusement. "So predictable," he grinned, turning away from the screen. "Almost takes the fun out of it." He turned to Vincent and his second-in-command, nodding at them. "Time to proceed to the next phase."

Vincent looked at who would be his partner for the next phase, and both nodded, heading off to collect the gear they would need.

***

"Nice speech," James complimented as Oliver and Kara returned.

"Did it work?" Kara asked.

"Oh, you betcha," Winn nodded. "Safe zones are filling up, they're completely offline, and hack-cident free."

Kara's gaze slid past Winn to where William was still sitting away from them all. J'onn squeezed her shoulder comfortingly, then Querl cleared his throat. "Shall we move on to neutral news?"

"Neutral news?" Oliver repeated.

"Well, it hasn't actually turned up good yet, but it's not necessarily bad news yet, either," Querl nodded.

Oliver raised an eyebrow. "This is about Cayden James's son?"

"Yes," Querl nodded, turning to Felicity.

"Alena thinks that Cayden believes that you killed his son because of something that arrived in a package from Corto Maltese in May," Felicity explained. "Through a pretty cool sequence of hacks on the mail systems of several different countries – not that you need to know about it, but it was, like, really intense and really cool, and we all did it, and it was really hard – "

"There was a USB drive in that package," Lena smoothly interrupted, noting Oliver's impatient look. "We've got the serial number, and Alena's working on trying to find the computer in Corto Maltese that uploaded the information onto that drive that Cayden received, which is the information that made him think that you killed his son."

"Was that all understood?" Winn winced.

"100%," Oliver assured him.

"Awesome."

The four tech people wheeled back to their stations, and Mon-El and Imra walked up to the duo. "Is everything all right?" Imra asked quietly.

Kara sighed, looking over at William. "No," she admitted just as quietly, looking down at her feet.

Imra rubbed her back comfortingly as Oliver squeezed her hand.

***

The moment Dinah heard footsteps coming up the stairs, she turned her phone off and turned to leave. "Dinah!" Curtis called.

"Hey," Rene caught up to her quickly. "Hey, if you don't want to work with him, we won't. We do it by consensus, like we agreed."

Dinah looked up at Curtis, who nodded, then she sighed. "Hey, look, I – I acknowledge that Vince is a complicated variable, OK?"

"Well, let's break it down," Rene suggested, walking to her other side. "You know, pro/con style."

"All right," Dinah nodded, thinking. "Pro: he's really good, and he gets deep into his assignments. Con: on our last assignment, he got in too deep. He can forget what side he's on."

"Pro: he's in with Cayden James and his crew, and his last intel worked," Rene added his part.

"If you didn't know Vincent, if you could remove this history with him, if, as a cop, he came to you with some intel, what would your gut tell you?" Curtis asked Dinah.

"Do we have new intel from him?" she raised an eyebrow.

"No."

She shrugged. "Well, then, I'm not gonna answer that yet."

***

"Fun fact," a voice behind the blond couple said, and Kara closed her eyes as Oliver rolled his eyes to the sky. "Actually talking to a child is one of the most effective parenting techniques."

"No kidding," Oliver deadpanned.

"You don't say," Kara sighed.

Malcolm held up his hands defensively as he joined them. "I'm just saying."

"Well, I've learned several times the hard way that sometimes kids just want to be left alone," Oliver told him. "I know we have to talk to him. I'm just trying to respect that."

"OK," Malcolm nodded.

It was when the assassin kept standing there that Kara sighed, realizing someone else was on her other side. "What?"

"Perhaps Ms. Smoak or Mr. Schott can sympathize more here since their fathers were supervillains who worked with technology," Slade leaned against the rail. "But the wizard – " Kara heard Malcolm mutter "magician" under his breath, bringing a small smile to her lips. " – and I both know a thing or two about keeping our lives, things that would not be liked or approved of, from our sons. And I know in Joe's case, it wasn't those parts that bugged him."

"What did?" Oliver asked.

"The lie," Slade said simply. "That camping trip we had before I took the Lian Yu mission, all Joe wanted was for me to tell him the truth. I think that's what William wants. The truth – the good, the bad, the ugly."

"He just wants to know the truth," Oliver repeated, frowning. "William knows the truth, or he – he knew the truth, and he decided that he didn't want me in situations where he might lose me."

Malcolm sighed. "Oliver, you want to know the honest truth about what I think?"

"When has that ever stopped you, Malcolm?" Oliver asked dryly.

Malcolm ignored him. "With everything that's happened with Diggle, with the 'team'" – Slade snorted at the obvious quotation marks Malcolm made with his voice. " – and everything happening right now with Cayden James, I think William can handle it."

"I don't know," Oliver sighed.

"I know," Malcolm gave him a look. "Like father, like son, after all."

Kara swallowed, looking down. "I hate feeling like I've let him down."

"You may have, little one," Slade put a hand on her shoulder. "But take it from a father who has let his son down many times – acknowledge it to him, know you're in the wrong. The worst he can do is hold it against you."

Kara winced. "That's not helping, Slade."

"I don't think he will, though," Slade shook his head.

"Why not?"

Slade smirked. "Genetics."

Malcolm laughed loudly as Oliver rolled his eyes. "Thank you, Slade."

"Any time, kid," Slade clapped him on the back as Kara giggled.

***

Vincent opened the locker storing his equipment, then looked through the multiple visors he had. He had just picked one up when he heard Cayden's second-in-command behind him. "Aren't you ready yet?" Vincent turned to scowl at him, getting an annoyed look in response. "We're moving out."

Vincent gave him a blank look, then nodded. "I'll be right there."

The man moved off, and Vincent watched him go, double checking to make sure no one was watching. When he turned back around, he picked up his visor, tapping away at an electronic chip in the corner of it.

***

Curtis's T-sphere lit up blue in various patterns, making the team rush down the stairs. "What's going on?" Dinah asked.

"Vincent's using the link to my T-sphere to send a message," Curtis answered, dropping down into his chair and picking up a pad and pen. "Morse code."

"Clever," Rene complimented, watching Curtis write. "What does it say?"

"Attack . . . " Curtis frowned, writing as the sphere beeped. "Oak . . . Street . . . now." He blinked, then looked up at them. "I'm assuming that's a warning, not a directive."

"Oak Street is one of the safe zones Oliver and Quentin set up," Rene made the connection.

Curtis sighed, leaning back and looking up at Dinah. "What do you wanna do?"

Dinah didn't even hesitate. "Suit up."

***

The trio emerged on the rooftops, looking down at the patrolling officers. "Officers marching, guns out, city under siege," Rene observed. "It's like 'Escape From Detroit.'"

Curtis frowned, shaking his head. "I don't know whether to correct you or to just embrace your attempt at referencing one of my favorite John Carpenter films."

"Huh?" Rene looked up at him.

"I think the point is that people are scared," Dinah interrupted. "It's not good."

"They should be scared," Oliver walked up on her other side with Dig, Malcolm, Laurel, and Alex behind him. "That's why they need us."

Curtis frowned. "When you say 'us,' do you mean just you and it's a passive dig at our team – no pun intended – "

"Are we going to stand here and discuss what the meaning of 'us' is, or are we going to focus on the problem at hand?" Malcolm snapped, giving him a glare.

Curtis closed his mouth with a click, giving Malcolm a nasty look. "We got your message, by the way," Laurel smiled sweetly. "Thanks for that."

Dinah looked around, raising an eyebrow. "No Space Brigade?"

"Oh, you mean them?" Alex pointed across the street, and the three looked over to see Kara, Mon-El, Imra, and J'onn land, J'onn setting James down on his feet. "Nope, they're here, too. And it's the Legion, just so you know."

"What are we dealing with here?" Oliver asked, cutting across all of them, knowing Kara could hear them.

"We have it on good authority this place is Cayden James's next target," Rene answered.

"How do you know?" Oliver asked.

"We know," Dinah answered, making him raise an eyebrow. "That's all that matters."

Someone cleared their throat on the comms. "I totally don't mean to spoil the really awkward team reunion," Winn began.

"I thought that was exactly your intent," Querl interrupted.

"Dude – !"

"You have incoming," Lena sighed.

"Whoa, you have lots of incoming!" Felicity shouted.

People scattered everywhere in the rain, and Oliver tensed. "We need to move out, right now!" he yelled.

Kara took off from the building she was on, followed by Mon-El and Imra. Malcolm fired off a grappling arrow, and Laurel slid down first, Alex hot on her heels. Curtis, Rene, and Dinah jumped off one side of the building, Oliver and Dig running to the other side, Malcolm grappling across as J'onn and James jumped down to protect civilians.

***

Slade watched the four tech people coordinate together, fiddling with the comms device in his own ear, then saw William hesitantly stand from his chair. He raised an eyebrow, then walked over. "Are you doing all right, William?"

He fidgeted slightly, then looked up at Slade. "Is Dad gonna be OK?"

Slade smiled. "William, if there is anything I know about your father, it's that he is going to be just fine." He gestured William over, and William followed him up onto the platform as Slade took a seat by one of the spare monitors, pulling up the tech team's feeds to examine. "I understand you're not happy with Oliver and Kara right now but what they're doing right now is what they do best. Nobody does it better when they work together."

William swallowed hard. "But everybody makes mistakes. Things go wrong."

***

Oliver fired three arrows simultaneously, pinning three of Cayden's thugs to the wall or the ground . . .

***

"They can't plan for everything."

"No, they can't," Slade agreed, gesturing for William to sit next to him.

***

Oliver jumped to the ground, firing at an approaching thug, then turned when he heard a thud behind him. The thug that would have approached him from behind went down with an ebony arrow through his thigh, and a quick look above revealed Malcolm lowering his bow and nodding at him. Oliver nodded back, running into the fray as Malcolm drew another arrow, looking for another target . . .

***

"What they do – what I do when I'm in the field with them – it's very dangerous, and not everyone makes it home." Slade looked down at one of the feeds, seeing Alex jam her claws into the side of a thug about to shoot at a girl no older than ten. "We never forget that," he said quietly, remembering the last woman who had worn Alex's suit.

***

Imra conjured a forcefield around a circle of civilians blocked off on all sides, Kara swooping down and ramming into the group like a bowling ball, scattering all of them as if scoring a perfect strike . . .

***

"Do you know the first time I met your father?" Slade asked William. When he shook his head, Slade chuckled. "I'll have to tell you the story. But we were alone on the island, and all I had for a partner to get off that bloody place was a spoiled, rich kid who didn't have the faintest idea about how to survive. He was annoying as hell and I wanted to cut out his throat box, but I started to care for him. I started to see him as my brother, and that meant I started to worry about him. That was over a decade ago, and while the mirakuru serum ruined much of that time, it doesn't change the fact that I still worry about him."

***

Mon-El held up a hand and blocked the punch coming at him, hiding a smirk at the yelp that came from the thug. He punched him in the stomach in reply, and the thug went flying backwards, right past James as he smashed his shield into a thug about to toss a grenade at a food stand . . .

***

"I'll be honest, William," Slade turned to him. "We haven't always been truthful. We've lied, we've kept secrets. None of us are perfect."

***

Laurel stepped in front of a group of approaching thugs and screamed at the top of her lungs, making them topple like a string of dominos. She smirked, then heard a pained cry behind her. She quickly turned to see a thug collapse unmoving, and she looked up to see Malcolm standing on the rooftop above her, bow still pointed at the thug, another arrow drawn. Blue eyes met green, and Laurel gave him a small smile before running off . . .

***

"Any one of the four behind us can tell you that this life, it's not ideal," Slade told William, and the boy looked behind them as Lena and Winn rattled off warnings, Felicity's and Querl's fingers flying over their keyboards. "But everyone out there makes their sacrifices, and the rest of their family makes theirs as well. I think it's why love like Oliver's and Kara's is perhaps the deepest I've seen." William giggled a bit, and Slade rolled his eye. "I know it sounds cheesy, but I think it is. The lives they live . . . they know they can't take things for granted."

***

Rene brought a thug in front of him down, then heard a bang behind him and a pained grunt. He spun around, eyes wide, to see Cayden James's second in command collapsed on the ground behind him. A quick glance up revealed Vincent Sobel in full Vigilante attire, his rifle aimed not at Rene, but at Cayden's man. "Traitor!" he bellowed, his eyes wide, spit flying from his mouth as he scrambled for the gun he had dropped. "I'm taking you to hell with – !"

Vincent fired again, killing the man before he could finish his sentence. Dinah spun around when she heard the shot, then looked up, just in time to see Vincent disappear. She watched him go with wide eyes, then smiled faintly. Curtis had been right after all . . .

***

"You, me, Oliver, Kara, and the people watching their backs, have to live with the fear and uncertainty that everything can be taken from us in an instant, because that's the price we pay for choosing the people that we care about and love," Slade told William. "Everything your father and soon-to-be stepmother do, they do for a good reason. Or, for what they think is a good reason. You can worry about them. I do, too. We all do. But you have to believe that they're going to be OK, because that's the only way that this works. OK?" William smiled faintly, then nodded. "OK," Slade patted him on the shoulder.

"Those two down," Winn's words carried over from behind them, and Slade and William turned in their chairs to see he was watching from Dig's body camera. "And now he spins, disarms, kicks, and an arrow right – "

"Ooo!" Felicity cringed, Winn yelping and backing away from his computer. "Whoa! Slade, please tell me William did not just see that!"

Slade just smirked at William, who had abruptly turned his gaze.

***

Kara dropped the last thug in a heap, and Oliver watched in relief as everyone else regrouped, turning to see Curtis, Rene, and Dinah jog from their side of the safe zone. "Good work," he told everyone.

Rene just scoffed. "Doesn't change anything, Hoss."

Mon-El's eyebrows shot up at the clear hostility in his tone, and a quick look around showed the same hostility from Curtis and Dinah, despite their masks. Rene was the first to walk through them, followed by his teammates. Alex and J'onn watched them go with narrowed eyes, and Mon-El heard Laurel growl behind him. "Oh, what I want to do to that b – "

"Oh, look out!" Imra suddenly called innocently.

Tiles suddenly cracked and popped out of the pavement, making Rene trip and sprawl out, and Dinah nearly did the same. Curtis tripped over his teammates, sending Dinah to the ground as well. Kara, Laurel, and Malcolm burst out laughing, and Mon-El grinned proudly at his wife. Oliver bit his lip to avoid laughing as his former teammates got to their feet, giving them all nasty glares. Imra just tilted her head, giving them a small wave. Unable to stand a chance against all of them, the three turned and left. "Remind me never to piss you off," Malcolm looked over at Imra.

The Legionnaire blushed faintly, even as she fist bumped Kara when she offered it.

***

"Wow," William mumbled, watching the footage with wide eyes. When he'd been at the D.E.O., able to hear comm chatter, he'd been able to hear what his father and soon-to-be stepmother had been doing. Seeing it live via footage was another thing altogether. "They're . . . they're pretty – "

"Amazing?" Lena looked over at them, smiling. "Yeah."

"Well, I was gonna say badass," William shrugged.

Felicity winked at him in agreement. "Badass," she nodded.

Slade looked down at the boy sitting at his side, tilting his head and taking in his more relaxed posture. "You all right, William?"

"Better now," William nodded. "Thank you, Mr. Wilson."

"Any time," Slade nodded. "Your father is kind of stuck with me now."

"I know," William fidgeted. "I kind of figured when people described the new vigilantes."

"You said that clued you in that your father was back as the Green Arrow?" Slade tilted his head. When William nodded, Slade nodded. "Clever."

"It wasn't that far off," William shrugged. "It's just that Mr. Diggle doesn't always seem that comfortable around you, Mr. Merlyn, and Laurel. I thought that would carry over to the field as well." When Slade didn't immediately answer, William frowned up at him. "Is that right?"

Slade just looked over at Winn's footage, narrowing his eye. "I don't think you're that far off."

***

"Well, for two teams that do not trust each other, you guys worked together pretty well," Felicity complimented as everyone returned to the bunker.

"Even though the majority of us were on the same team?" J'onn raised an eyebrow.

"Boy, am I glad I've never met them before tonight," Mon-El shook his head.

"I'm glad I didn't speak with them at the subway line," Imra agreed.

"Did we ever hear where they got their information from?" Alex wondered.

"Not at all," Malcolm shook his head.

Laurel stopped in the middle of taking off her gloves, frowning when the tech team's screens fizzled out. "What's happening?"

Querl winced. "It appears Cayden James is shutting down all communications – email, television, cell phones, Internet traffic. Everything."

"We didn't meet his 11:30 deadline," James sighed.

"Can you please talk to Alena and tell her that we are running out of time?" Oliver looked at Felicity.

"I already did," she nodded. "She's working as fast as she can."

Winn looked up at Oliver, seeing the frustration on his face. "Anything else we can do?" he asked quietly.

Oliver silently shook his head. "Nothing you can do."

He and Kara exchanged looks, and she nodded. "We need to go talk to William."

***

Dinah turned when she heard footsteps approaching, and as Vincent walked towards her, she walked to meet him halfway. "You saved Rene's life tonight," she told him, a genuine smile on her face. "Thank you."

"I'm on your side, D," Vincent reminded her.

"I wasn't so sure before," Dinah admitted.

"So . . . what now?" Vincent tilted his head.

Dinah's smile grew wider.

***

"When I was growing up, if something happened, my dad would call a family meeting so that we could all talk about it," Oliver told William as he and Kara sat with him that night.

"And this needs to be said by both of us," Kara took a deep breath, looking down at her hands, which hadn't stopped fidgeting since they sat down.

"I'm terribly sorry that I lied to you," Oliver told William. "There is no excuse for it, and I'm new at this whole dad thing, but that's not an excuse either. I've just . . . I've been trying to work my way through it, and I've hit more bumps in the road than I thought that I would, as you know."

"And I'm sorry, too," Kara told William, looking up from her hands. "I was trying to protect both you and Oliver, but all of us got hurt in the long run, you more than all of us. Ever since we met, William, I have never lied to you, and this is the first time I have. You may not be my biological son, but after I marry your dad, you will be my son. And this was no way to treat you. So I'm going to make you this promise, one I swear I'm going to keep." When Kara cautiously reached for his hands, William let her take them, and he looked up into her eyes, which were full of remorse. "No more secrets, and no more lies."

"No more secrets, and no more lies," Oliver agreed, putting a hand on William's knee, bringing his son's gaze to him. "And William . . . if you need me to stop being the Green Arrow, I will."

William looked between them. "Mr. Wilson showed me what you did tonight," he told them. "I got to say, it was . . . it was really cool. The city needs you, and I get that now. It needs both of you. So does National City."

"Are you sure?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah," William nodded. "I mean, I was worried before that I'd become an orphan, but it's different now. I have Mr. Wilson, Aunt Lena, Aunt Felicity, Uncle Winn, all of your team members, everyone from Central City and the Waverider, and even everyone on Earth-38. I understand why you have to go out there."

Kara smiled widely, though she did have to reach up and wipe a few tears away. "I'll do better," she promised.

"We'll do better," Oliver amended. "This was on both of us."

Kara nodded, squeezing William's hands. "We'll do better."

William smiled, giving her a quick hug, which Kara enthusiastically returned. He gave Oliver a hug, too, before standing up. "I'm gonna get to bed."

"Sleep well, OK?" Kara smiled as he left.

"Thanks," he waved.

They watched him go before Oliver sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, relieved that was finally done. Kara did the same thing, scooting over so their knees touched, reaching one arm around his shoulders and leaning her head on his arm. "What he said was touching and kind of awful," she murmured.

"I think that's the actual definition of bittersweet," Oliver remarked.

Kara winced, and Oliver took her hand. "It hurt, though. And we totally deserved it, didn't we?"

"We did," Oliver admitted. "But if I've learned one thing about parenting so far that I'm sure of . . . you can't win them all."

"No matter how much we want to," Kara sighed.

Oliver shook his head in agreement, turning and kissing her on top of her head. "And it's a hell of a lot."

Kara nodded, about to close her eyes when her phone chimed. She lifted her head from his shoulder and reached for her phone, checking the text from Querl that arrived. She braced herself and opened it up, then sighed in defeat. "It's Brainy. Alena checked in. She's gone through all the computers in Corto Maltese. She didn't find anything." Oliver sighed in defeat, closing his eyes. "I'm so sorry," Kara whispered.

Oliver took a deep breath. "I've got to get to City Hall."

"What are you gonna do?" Kara asked quietly.

He just looked at her sadly, and Kara swallowed, realizing exactly what he was going to do.

***

Oliver pinched the bridge of his nose, mentally preparing himself as the elevator doors opened. He walked out towards his office, bracing himself when he saw Thea already there, waiting for him. He stopped in front of his desk, looked his sister in the eye, and ordered, "Wire the money."

To her credit, Thea didn't say anything. She simply sat down and clicked a button on the keyboard, and Oliver sighed, looking out over Star City as Thea sent the requested $10 million to Cayden James's account.

***

Oof. This was a heavy chapter, just because it was interesting having Slade be the one speaking to William and balancing both Oliver's and Kara's parts in lying to William. At least it wasn't difficult to worry about the bad guys this time around.

And next time, we'll get a bit of a break from New Team Arrow, assuming everyone's as annoyed with them as I am right now. It's back over to National City, and boy, have I got a bit of work to do. No Lillian Luthor means I need a new plan, and I think I've got one people will enjoy. ;)